Gmail sync killed all contacts photos

I enabled syncing with my Gmail account and then all my Gmail contacts photos disappeared. To test, I even added new ones through the browser on a desktop and after sync they got erased again. What the hell is going on? How do I get my iPhone to recognize 2-way sync when it comes to profile photos? It does it fine for data, why not photos?

I find their canceling exchange for free accounts not very mobile friendly.

They chose to stop licensing Exchange and focus on open standards....which Apple supposedly supports as well.

So it seems like the 2-way sync is not really up to par. At least in the case of contact photos, my iPhone overwrites Gmail. When I add a photo in Gmail, my iPhone deletes it. When I add a photo in my iPhone, it gets pushed to Gmail. Go figure! So I guess I either have to use iCloud for Contacts or make sure to add all the contacts photos through my phone. The problem is, even if I add it in my phone, it doesn't push the cropped version to Gmail. :-(